Building co-management for the anchovy fishery and improving local livelihoods in South Misool District of Raja Ampat, West Papua Province, Indonesia

Bagans for catching anchovy

by Stephanus Mandagi, PhD & Christofel Rotinsulu

Anchovies have been the main target for migrant fishers in Raja Ampat, West Papua Province of Indonesia. For the last three decades, however, due to changes in fishery dynamics, the anchovy stock has declined in terms of availability to small-scale fisheries (SSF), though fishery length-based metrics indicate that the stock is healthy albeit lower in abundance due to higher Fishing pressures from commercial interests.

The spawning potential ratio (SPR) indicates that the anchovy stock has declined though just above target reference points, but despite that, to achieve equitable allocation between SSF and commercial interests, alternative management measures will need to be put in place to ensure that the near shore stocks are available for SSF. Currently, there are no fishing limits and only limited restrictions to the spatial or temporal distribution of fishing effort. Fishing has occurred within the existing marine park in Raja Ampat from commercial interests which technically is not permitted.

The inequitable allocation of catch in the anchovy fishery has hurt the economy of the local community that depended on anchovy. And left alone, the continued access denial of the anchovy has negative implications on livelihoods of SSF in these areas.

An earlier study reported that the average income of an anchovy fisher was US $1,835 per year or double the average fisher income in Raja Ampat in 2005. However, the introduction of floating platforms that use lights and lift nets, locally known as Bagan in the 2010s, have impacted local SSF catches. The Bagan nets, brought by large fishing vessels based in Sorong City, about 12 hours travel time by boat, has accelerated the anchovy decline.  

Chapter 5 of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines), calls for responsible management of fisheries, aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity. The SSF Guidelines further proposes that co-management is important because it gives voice to the fishers so they can express their needs and claims and contribute valuable knowledge (including traditional knowledge) to the formulation of policies and regulations.

To address challenges to the anchovy fishery, FAO together with Papua Christian University (UKIP) of Sorong has supported the development of the co-management for anchovy fishery in South Misool District of West Papua Province from July of 2020 to June of 2022. The project is also studying the fish stock to inform management decisions.

Establishment of co-management for the anchovy fishery

Building a co-management strategy for anchovy fishery in South Misool, Raja Ampat Regency, of West Papua Province has been the main objective of this project since it was started in September of 2021. It has been a challenging effort for the project’s team amid the restriction on travel and holding meetings with local communities during the covid 19 pandemic. However, the team was able to do intense communication with all stakeholders.

A series of meetings were convened to engage with all the relevant stakeholders, including government agencies, fishing industry representatives, MPA management authority, customary groups, NGOs, academia and local fishermen. Socialization and consultation to get support to the proposed co-management framework has been intensively facilitated in meetings held in Sorong, in the village, and through virtual meetings.

The co-management mechanism is expected to implement management measures in South Misool anchovy fishery, including restrictions on fishing gear, as well as special and temporal fishing limits, include exclusive access to inshore waters for local fishers. Through the intense engagement with the local community and consultation with stakeholders, a village ordinance was successfully formalized to regulate the anchovy fishing activity in South Misool. The Ordinance includes the anchovy fishery management plan and the management measures. The regulation was introduced to all fishing communities in South Misool and gained support for implementation. 

Workers collecting anchovy on bagan

To support operationalization of the management measures, the enforcement and surveillance unit at the provincial marine and fisheries office formed a community-based surveillance group and trained them for conducting surveillance to ensure compliance of the village regulation. After the training, a joint surveillance patrol was held to enforce the Bagan exclusion and ensure that none anchored within the range of 3 kilometers from the villages. There have been routine monitoring and surveillance by the community surveillance group, and the Bagans have been fishing far outside the villages and away from the conservation areas and providing near-shore access to the stock to SSFs.  In complying with the village ordinance, several management measures are in effect including fishing within 3 kilometers from villages is being enforced, local villagers’ employment on the Bagans is being required, and catch recording and reporting is a legal requirement. 

Improving local livelihood and provide value-added from anchovy

In addition to improving the governance mechanism of this fishery, efforts have been made to increase the benefit of anchovy fishery to the community, such as by offering training for local women to develop alternative income for families. Three trainings were carried out in South Misool to support development of the small businesses to produce anchovy crackers: the first training was held in October of 2021 on how to make, package and run the business. The second training, held in April 2022, involved marketing personnel, and focused on the marketing process, building communication with the buyers which was held in Yellu Village of South Misool Distric.  The third training for developing product that meet health code requirements by trainers from Health Department of Raja Ampat Regency was held in May 2022.

Groups of women in South Misool have been producing and selling the anchovy crackers locally and inter-regionally - The numbers of women involved in the business have increased from 5 to 15 women especially in Harapan Jaya Village and Fafanlap Village respectively. The anchovy crackers have been distributed to several cities, mainly in the eastern and central Indonesia is places likeSorong city, Waisai city (the capital of Raja Ampat District), Manado City, Bitung City of North Sulawesi District, Balikpapan City of East Kalimantan Province, Bau-Bau City of Southeast Sulawesi, and to Denpasar, the capital of Bali. Other target cities include Manokwari, Jayapura and Ambon, but remain on hold due to production limitations.

The local government and community as well as stakeholders in Raja Ampat and West Papua Province in general are highly grateful to FAO for the support to the implementation of co-management plan of the anchovy fishery in South Misool.  The Village Ordinance has been enforced and implemented by the Bagan owners and operators, the fisher community of Yellu village, their government, and the ethnic leaders. All communities have supported the implementation and are monitoring the management processes. As a result of this process, the distribution of Bagan that catch anchovy has moved further offshore and away from the villages. A pause in fishing during the new moon every month is now being enforced to ensure spawning occurs from mature anchovies. Bagan operators have been using catch logbooks. In addition, local SSF have once again started to catch anchovy from nearshore waters and market their catches. Finally, the development of small-scale fisher businesses has increased, the anchovy cracker product is now traded locally and in some cities in eastern Indonesia. Finally, the government of Raja Ampat Regency has endorsed these businesses by issuing them permits, and further supporting the health- code certification process for the product for local consumption. 

Below are some pictures on the training and production of anchovy crackers by women business groups.